Friday, February 18, 2011

A Change of Heart

I love the quote from the movie, "Valentine's Day," where Jennifer Garner is telling Patrick Dempsey why he doesn't understand not appreciating the holiday. She says something along the lines of..." You wouldn't understand. But for the girls who remember having braces and playing saxophone in the marching band in jr. high, they have plenty of reasons not to like Valentine's Day..." She was basically describing me, except I was playing the trumpet in the concert band. Boy, those braces did a number on the inside of my lips as I jammed them into the trumpet mouthpiece... I remember listening on the intercom every year, hoping they'd call my name along with the hundreds of kids receiving flowers, candy, teddy bears, etc... Now, don't feel sorry for me! I never got anything at school from a jr. high boy, or even from my parents, but I came home to a loving family and always a gift from both my mom and dad. But I did really want to be one of the masses (it really was a mass of kids - the stage in the gym was packed with tokens of "love").
Well, I guess this year is my 11th Valentine's Day celebrated married to my husband. That's pretty wonderful :) We've started a habit of buying each other a cd on this holiday. I bought him a "best of the Beatles" cd and he bought me one of Nora Jones. A few years ago, Rich began buying the girls a gift just from him. He picks them each out a book. I figure that will change as they get a little older, but they still love it. I made a celebratory dinner for the family as my gift for them. We had sparkling cider, conversation hearts all over the table, heart pizzas, fruit salad, and heart-shaped brownies.
As my kids get older and we move into a new phase of life with them, I realize that you set the tone for what they will appreciate. If I buy them a ton of presents at every occasion, they will expect it and demand it. I love to shower them with things I know they will enjoy. But much more importantly, I want them to appreciate the relationships we share. So I'm trying to train my kids to appreciate the little things. My whole family loved just feeling special for the evening. They even got to eat the candy throughout the dinner (a tip from a friend)!

Valentine's Day is just another holiday in the list of those that are WAY more fun as a mom of two sweet, passionate girls and the wife of a great husband.


**side note: I don't whole-heartedly recommend the movie "Valentine's Day". I found it really entertaining, but as one who tries to be extremely careful about the movies we watch, there are a few questionable situations to be leery of...

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